Discard Trope: Major Injury, Minor Pain

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Created By: KageNara on September 3, 2012 Last Edited By: KageNara on December 1, 2013

Nuked

Major Injury, Minor Pain

A severe injury is treated as inconsequential with no reason or explanation

Name Space:Main

Page Type:Trope

Editors Note: Please understand that the stipulations applied to Made of Iron on this page will only apply if this trope is found Tropeworthy and launched.

These stipulations were created as if MIMP goes legit, several MOI examples will instead be considered examples of MIMP.

No matter how severe the wound/injuries location or how much blood is lost, the person will not give any indication of a wound causing pain (or any physical/emotional symptoms for that matter) besides the occasional wince.

If the work gives or implies a reason why the injury is of such little importance and beneath the notice of the character, no matter how ridiculous the given explanation may be , THIS. TROPE. DOES. NOT. APPLY.

As with most other tropes,MIMP can obviouslybe lampshaded, however due to MIMP's strict rule of only existing when the odd behavior goes unnoticed, this trope can never be both lampshaded and played straight , this incompatibility is rooted in that as soon as the Lampshade Hanging is applied, the reason for injury being blown off as nothing can be simply and effectively argued as s Rule of Funny. Because, remember no matter how ridiculous the explanation is, if a reason is given this trope is dead.

This trope can be VERY similar to Made of Iron and it is easy to apply both tropes to the other one incorrectly, this is especially true for those rare, most often new, Tropers that apply a trope whilst being unfamiliar with the character that seemingly invoked said trope.

A character that has not shown signs of high willpower or physical toughness can be MOI, but the difference in the character's sudden willpower and/or toughness must generally be acknowledged by the work in some manner, either at the time of the "injury", or, revealing later on that the moment was in fact an instance of Made of Iron [[note]] If the MOI is given support later on in the story then the Major Injury Minor Pain Trope may have very well been already applied to the character innocently [[/note]]

Major Injury Minor Pain - For the trope to be MIMP over Made of Iron the character that was wounded must have never shown any exceptional willpower and/or high degrees of toughness either before the injury or after, the lack of emotion/observable pain must NOT be realized in-universe, pointed out to the audience in some way by the work itself, or lampshaded by the works creators. If this instance is ever acknowledged this trope will no longer apply. If this instance is made into a trait of the character it becomes Made of Iron.

MIMP can be confused with other pain tropes as well, though not often to the degree of MOI and MIMPS.

For Instance wounds that are, Only a Flesh Wound, can be treated similarly to this, however the Major Injury of this trope is not always in a part of the body considered to be unimportant and if the wound's location is why the injury is downplayed then it is firmly in This is only a flesh wound territory.

Please note the trope has a strict code when applied to a work.

No Matter how Ridiculous, if any explanation is given for the wound to have been paid no mind then this...trope...does...not...fit.

Since I have not seen anyone say this exists yet (Most YKTTW are called out by this point if they already exist) I am going to go ahead and list some examples.

Examples

Hot Fuzz - Another aversion. Butterman ask Angel how does it feel being stabbed, obviously considering that Angel was stabbed as Rule of Cool as having seen this Trope played straight in many of his cop movies and most likely not noticing the trope, doesn't really know what he is talking about when it comes to reality. Angel sets him straight.

Butterman: (scoots chair closer, leans in toward Nick) "What's it like being stabbed?"

Angel: (looks at Danny) "It was the single most painful experience of my life"

This is really of note as Angel is quite the Badass British and it is obvious he is experiencing emotional trauma just thinking about the pain the stabbing caused. Danny does not seem to take note of how serious Nick is though, based on the fact that he asks "What was the second most painful" not a second after Angel stops speaking.

M*A*S*H- In one episode a Turk and a Greek soldier are both at the 4077th at the same time, trying to out-stoic one another, refusing anesthetic.

Turkish soldier:What's this?

Charles [I think]: Something to kill the pain while I fix your leg.

Turkish Soldier: I am Turk. I not need that.

Greek Soldier: Turk has no need. Greek no need.

The Turkish soldier may be an example of this trope, the Greek soldier however is more of an example of Macho Masochism, as he is letting himself be in pain (He might as well have stabbed himself, he is choosing pain over comfort either way)to prove he is just as strong as the Turkish soldier.

Though the use of another Pain Trope immediately following the Turk's line which is a possible example of MIMP., sheds doubt on whether or not the Turk showing a genuine Minor Pain Major Injury or is, like the Greek, simply trying to be macho, as this trope generally only applies if the writers/directors do not state/imply any reason for the lack of response to the pain, which they do here with the Greek soldier. However the Turk's response to his pain could still be a straight example of MIMP. with writers/directors not realizing or understanding the level of pain the person with his wound would be in.

Not really as in Minor Pain, Major Injury, the wound is there, it is noticeable, and the hero is very aware of it, and he/she reacts to the wound. But the pain is significantly underplayed.

Also this does not have to happen in an action scene nor to the hero/villain as a character can be shot and lie bleeding on the sidewalk but never once show a realistic display of the pain such a wound would cuase..

Also in the Averted Trope Codifier of Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Orange was most likely pumped with adrenaline and was STILL screaming in agony.

Its more of a Did Not Do The Research as the writers/directors often do not realize that said wound would be so painful in reality.

However sometimes wounds are not felt (as I Aint Got Time To Bleed mentioned) due to adrenaline or shock numbing the pain and or disorienting the victim. This however does not happen as often as Hollywood depicts. Again when adrenaline is involved it is I Aint Got Time To Bleed. This trope only applies if no explanation is given as to why the major wound is so easy to ignore.

Look at Zoro on the Made Of Iron page. You cannot tell me the reason he survived that attack had nothing to do with him being a Badass.

I reread Made of Iron still believe the above trope is sufficiently different.

I admit a head of time I could be wrong here, but MOI seems to be primarily a trait of the Badass, in it seems to a Trope designed to highlight the Badassery of the injured hero. The reason for survival is the character being a Badass, which is fine, but not all unexplained and downplayed injuries happen to badasses.

I do not see Made of Iron a a trope representing downplayed injuries being unexplained, I still believe MIMP 'IS a trope representing downplayed injuries being unexplained, the injury is obviously downplayed, but in-universe the reaction to the injury is considered normal and is treated as a normal human response.

My Trope may appear to be inflexible however the only traits the trope examples have to have in common is the "injury being downplayed" and the "reason is unexplained". I do not feel this is so restrictive.

Just because Made Of Iron frequently overlaps with badass doesn't mean badass is a requirement for the trope. There are some characters in that the trope applies to that are anything but badass and it can be used in a comedic manner.

Personally, I suggest making a thread on the repair shop or trope talk forum to get a better understanding of Made Of Iron and find out find whether there's room for this but right now least to me this looks like there are a number of different trope that cover this and all the trope description for this is trying to do is twisting their meanings to make room. When you have to explain why a trope isn't multiple other tropes there's a big problem.

I will state this trope part by part so maybe I can show why I feel this is a unique trope.

Step 1. A Realistic Injury is suffered by an average man in a series set in the REAL WORLD.
Step 2. The noticeable symptoms of the injury are unrealistically insignificant or absent altogether.
Step 3. This lack of pain, blood, screaming is treated as the normal with EVERYBODY IN THIS WORLD.
Step 4. An explanation into why the wounds were so easy to deal with is never given.

Okay, what I see as the difference is that it is not about characters being able to resist and ignore injuries, It is about. No one in this world is treating injuries seriously. And in most cases the rules of the real world apply to this world as well. Oh it does not HAVE to be set in the REAL WORLD.

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